Friedrich Kluge

“ Wagen, masculine, ‘vehicle, carriage, waggon,’ from the equivalent Middle High German wagen, Old High German wagan, masculine; corresponding to the equivalent Dutch wagen, Anglo-Saxon wœgn, English wain, Old Icelandic vagn, ‘waggon.’ Based on the Teutonic root wëg (see Weg) ; from the corresponding Aryan root wëgh, wogh, ‘to drag, drive,’ are derived Greek ἄχος, Latin vehiculum, Old Icelandic fén, ‘waggon.’ The Aryan words Rad and Nabe show that vehicles were used in primitive times; for the Aryan root wegh, ‘to drag, to move on,’ see wegen. ”

“ Our learned men have therefore agreed to use the Keltic term which was customary among old historians, and which, according to the testimony of the Venerable Bede, was applied in England to the immigrant Anglo-Saxons by the Britons even in the 8th century. The national character of the Teutons and the type of their language were for a very long period after the division into tribes the same as before. In the last century before our era, when numerous Teutonic tribes became known to the ancient world, we have not the least evidence to show that the language had branched off into dialects. ”

“ Feind, masculine, ‘enemy, foe, fiend,’ from Middle High German vînt, vîent, vîant, Old High German fîant, masculine, ‘enemy’; the common Teutonic noun for ‘enemy’; compare Old Saxon fîund, Anglo-Saxon feónd, English fiend, Old Icelandic fjánde, Gothic fijands. In contrast to Latin hostis, discussed under Gast, the Teutonic designates his enemy according to the disposition of the latter; Feind (present participle of the Sanscrit root pî, pîy, ‘to scorn, hate’) is literally ‘the hater’ ”

“ It is impossible to recognise in this primitive word a derivative of the root of wählen, as if it meant ‘the chosen favourites of the god of war, who were led away by the Valkyres.’ It is rather based on a root wăl, ‘destruction,’ which appears also in Old High German wuol, ‘defeat,’ Anglo-Saxon wôl, ‘plague, pestilence’; allied to wühlen?. — Walküre, feminine, ‘Valkyre,’ formed from Old Icelandic valkyrja (Anglo-Saxon wœlcyrie) , feminine, properly ‘a divine maiden who makes a selection of the slain on the field of battle.’ See kiesen. ”

“ Compare in Romance the words used in the same sense from Latin senior, viz., Italian signore, French seigneur. Herr is originally native to Germany, but in the form hearra it found is way at a very early period (about the 9th century) from the German lowlands to England, and later to Scandinavia (Modern Swedish herre, ‘master’) . In Modern High German only a feminine Herrin has been formed from Herr (as in Italian signora from signore) . The older language used Frau, Herr having supplanted the earlier frô (see under frohn) . ”

“ Thus the word deutsch has a singular and comprehensive history; it was used in the earliest Old High German and Middle Latin writings only of the language (since 845 A.D. Theodisci occurs also as the name of a people, and first of all in Italy) ; deutsch, ‘popular,’ was the term applied to the native language in contrast to the Latin ecclesiastical speech and the Latin official phraseology. We may note English Dutch, because it is restricted to the language of Holland; till about 1600 A.D. the people of Holland were convinced that their language was German. ”

“ In Gothic dumbs, Old Icelandic dumbr the adjective is equivalent to Anglo-Saxon and English dumb; the Old High German word, in addition to the meanings of Middle High German, has likewise the signification ‘deaf,’ which also belongs to dumm in early Modern High German. ‘Dull in sense and intellect’ may be the primary sense of the adjective, which has not yet been found in the non-Teutonic languages; stumm too has a peculiar history; see schmecken, hell. Words expressing the perceptions of one sense are often transferred to those of another. ”

“ To the scientific acquisitions of the present century we owe the knowledge of a primary period of the history of the German language, which is authenticated by no other record than the language itself. ”

“ The compound verb is the relic of a strong verbal root get, ‘to reach, attain,’ whence English to get; compare Gothic bigitan, ‘to find, Old Icelandic ‘to reach, attain,’ In non-Teutonic, Latin prae-hendere, ‘to group,’ Greek χανδάνω (Aryan root ghed, ghend) , are connected with the root get. Hence vergessen means literally ‘to get beyond one's reach, lose possession of.’ —
vergeuden, verb, ‘to squander, dissipate,’ from Middle High German giuden (übergiuden) , weak verb, ‘to boast, make a parade, squander with ostentation’ ”

“ Modern Dutch huid, Anglo-Saxon hŷd, feminine, English hide, Scandinavian hûð, feminine; the Old Teutonic word for ‘hide’ (Gothic *hûþs, genitive, *hûdais, is by chance not recorded) , from pre-Teutonic kûtí-s, feminine; it is Latin cŭtis (for the gradation of û to ŭ, see laut and Sohn) ; compare Greek κύτος, neuter, ‘skin, covering’; the root has a prefix s in Greek σκῦτος, neuter, ‘skin, leather,’ Latin scû-tum, ‘shield,’ σκῦ-λον, ‘skin, arms stripped of a slain enemy.’ Hence the dental in Old High German hût, Latin cutis, would be a suffix merely ”

“ But the perception of historical connections is made more difficult when the earlier stages of the language are not so accessible as Latin is for the history of Romance words. A scientific knowledge of German etymology rests upon facts, whose coherence can only be explained by going beyond the limits of the chief civilised languages. It is impossible, however, for the student to go so far back, unless all the difficulties are smoothed and explained, and all the necessary details for ascertaining the history of a word are placed before him. ”

“ Mops, masculine, Modern High German only, from the equivalent Low German mops, Dutch mops and mop, ‘pug-dog.’ Akin to a Teutonic root mup, ‘to distort the face, make grimaces’; compare late Middle High German muff, mupf, masculine, ‘wry mouth,’ Dutch mopper, ‘to wear a peevish look,’ English to mop, ‘to gibber,’ Middle English moppe, ‘fool.’ Modern High German Mops, in the sense of ‘stupid fellow, may be explained as indicated by the Middle English word without reference to the name of the Latin author Mopsus. ”

“ This Old Teutonic word for Klage, ‘lament,’ as distinguished from the other synonyms, signifies properly the silent, inward mourning, not the loud wailing, for in Gothic the cognate kara, feminine, means ‘care,’ Anglo-Saxon cearu, feminine, ‘care, suffering, grief,’ English care. ”

“ Dutch wereld, Anglo-Saxon weorold, worold, English world, have the Modern High German meaning. The double sense ‘world' and ‘age' can hardly be explained from one primary form; the latter meaning is linked with Old Icelandic ǫld, Anglo-Saxon yld, ‘age'; the former seems to be based on a collective sense, ‘humanity,’ which follows from Old Low German ęldi, Anglo-Saxon ylde, Old Icelandic elder, ‘men.’ The first part of the compound (Gothic waír-aldus) is Teutonic wër, ‘man, person’ (see Werwolf) . Welt, like Himmel and Hölle is peculiar to Teutonic. ”

“ Gothic *faúrhus, feminine, is wanting. If the initial f is to be regarded as in vier related to Latin quattuor, Föhre may be connected with Latin quercus, ‘oak’; for the change of meaning Eiche and Tanne might be compared. In earlier Modern High German Ferch, ‘oak,’ is also recorded once, and is akin to Old High German vereh-eih, Lombardic fereha, ‘æsculus.’ Thus the connection between Föhre and quercus (pre-Teutonic qṛku-) is certain. In any case, Feuer is not a cognate. Fichte, Birke, Buche, Föhre are the few names of trees whose existence can be traced beyond Teutonic. ”

“ Jüngling, ‘youth, young man,’ is a Teutonic derivative of jung; compare Old High German jungaling, Middle High German jungelinc, Dutch jongeling, Anglo-Saxon geongling, English (antiquated) youngling, Old Icelandic ynglingr (in Gothic juggalauþs) , ‘youth.’ —
Jünger masculine, ‘disciple,’ properly the comparative of jung, used as a substantive; compare Middle High German jünger, Old High German jungiro, ‘disciple, pupil, apprentice’; the word (as the antithesis to Herr, Old High German hêrro) is probably derived from the Old Teutonic feudal system. ”

“ The Provençal and Old French plevir, ‘to assure, stand security,’ to which no definite Latin and Romance original can be assigned, is derived rather from Middle European Teutonic (Old Saxon and Old High German) than the reverse. English pledge originated in Old French pleige, Middle Latin plegium. Although the West Teutonic cognates must have existed perhaps as early as the 4th century, nothing definite can be asserted concerning their origin and their numerous meanings, the base of which seems to be ‘to act affectionately for, or in conjunction with, some one’ ”

“ Scientific investigation, which has been endeavouring for more than half a century to unlock the common source of their language from the later records of the various Aryan tribes, bestows on it the highest praise for its wealth of forms, the development of which has been traced by German grammarians in our mother-tongue down to the present day. ”

“ Middle High German dëgen, ‘hero.’ There is to phonetic difficulty in connecting these cognates (Gothic þigna-, from teknó-) , as is usually done, with Greek τέκνον, ‘child’; the difference in sense may be paralleled by Anglo-Saxon magu, ‘boy, son, servant, man.’ But since þëgn was already an established technical term in the Old Teutonic system, we must in preference regard ‘vassal’ as the primary sense of the word. We have too in Gothic þius (stem þiwa-) for þigwá-, ‘servant, attendant’ (Anglo-Saxon þeó, þeów, Old High German diu; see Dirne and dienen) , a more suitable connecting link. ”

“ It is remarkable that the Teutons have abandoned this old Aryan term for ‘bear’ (ṛksós, Teutonic orhsa-s) , since they have retained other names of animals. In Middle High German we have bër, Old High German bëro, Anglo-Saxon bëra, English bear, björn, ‘bear’ (Gothic *baíra) . The Teutonic beron- is a substantive form based upon an Aryan adjective bhero-, equivalent to Lithuanian bėras, ‘brown’ (Latin furvus?) , from the root of which, bher and Modern High German Biber, braun, may also be derived; in using the adjective as a substantive the Aryan ṛksos is understood. ”

“ Only such a pliancy of the primitive speech could keep pace with the higher intellectual development which we must assume for the progress of the Teutonic group after the first division of dialects. The capacity of our race for development is sufficient, even without the assumption of foreign influences, to account for the refinement and development of the conditions of life among the Teutons during the second period of the primitive history of our language. ”

“ In Anglo-Saxon hindberie, feminine, means ‘strawberry’ and ‘raspberry’; compare English dialectic hindberries, ‘raspberries’ (note too Anglo-Saxon hindhœ̂leþe, ‘ambrosia,’ Middle High German hirz-wurz, Anglo-Saxon heortclœ̂fre, ‘camedus,’ properly ‘hemp agrimony’) . In earlier Modern High German there existed a term Hind-läufte, from Middle High German hintlouf, ‘a plant growing on the hind's track,’ i.e., along forest paths, which was applied to the common chicory. ”

“ Since the word is so widely diffused in Old Teutonic (it is wanting only in Upper German; yet note Swiss blucke, ‘to pluck,’ from the primary form *bluggôn) there is absolutely no foundation for supposing that it has been borrowed. If it be assumed that the cognates found their way to the North with the South European culture of the vine in the 2nd or 3rd century, from Italian piluccare, ‘to gather grapes’ (Provençal pelucar, ‘to pluck out,’ French éplucher) , then the early existence of the Romance word must be more definitely established. ”

“ Originally ‘perceptible, worth seeing, noteworthy’ (compare laut, literally ‘that which is heard’) ; a verbal adjective from the Teutonic root skau, ‘to look,’ in Old High German scouwôn (for the formation of the word see rein) . Gothic has preserved only the cognate compounds, guþaskaunei, ‘form of God,’ and ibnaskauns, ‘of like appearance with,’ which imply a Gothic *skauns, ‘form’?. At all events, they show that the modern sense ‘beautiful’ did not originally belong to the word. ”

“ Greek πυθ (according to the well-known rule for φυθ) in πυνθάνομαι, πυθέσθαι ‘to ask, demand, learn by asking, hear,’ approaches one of the meanings of the Teutonic verb; the latter has an active signification ‘to publish, communicate,’ while the Greek middle verb means ‘to know by report, obtain information.’ With the sensuous meaning of High German bieten is connected the Old Indian root budh (for bhudh) , ‘to make a present to one’; yet it most frequently means ‘to be watchful, astir,’ then ‘to observe, notice’ ”

“ In the remaining Teutonic dialects the terms for Gerste are Gothic baris, Old Icelandic bygg (and barr) , Anglo-Saxon bęre, English barley. Old High German gërsta, from pre-Teutonic ghérzdâ-, corresponds only to the equivalent Latin hordeum (from *horsdeum, primary form *ghṛzdéyo-) ; Greek κριθή, ‘barley,’ is scarcely a cognate. From an Aryan root ghrs, ‘to stiffen’ (Latin horrere for *horsere, Sanscrit hṛš, ‘to bristle up’) , some have inferred Gerste to mean originally ‘the prickly plant’ (on account of the prickly ears) . ”